Not finishing his meals..

[Sully]

Since Sully has come home from surgery on Thursday he is not eating right. He HATES the cone and it interferes when he tries to eat or drink. He barks at his water bowl for a drink so that we hold it for him, and he won't even eat out of his bowl we have to hand feed him. He hates the cone hitting and knocking on the bowls and it scares him so he asks us for assistance. We've tried raising the bowls so the cone goes around them but he knocks them off still with the cone and gets more scared and frustrated.

We can get him to eat by giving it to him by hand, but after a few handfuls he doesn't want anymore. He hasn't eaten one full meal since coming home, he eats less than half per meal. He should be eating 5 cups a day and is only eating 2 cups, if not less. He will turn his head away from your hand of kibble when he has had enough and walk away. Does anyone have any ideas of why he might be doing this?? How can we get him to eat properly again? We thought maybe the cone hurts him or is too tight around his neck when he swallows but we have loosened it as much we can... we thought about taking it off while we he eats to see if that helps but the Vet had said to leave it on at all times when I asked if could take if off during feeding.. plus we have duct tape wrapped around the entire rim of the cone to make it last longer and hold together so we'd have to peel off the tape to take it off each time... I'm just worried about him losing weight during this time. Any suggestions would be great, thanks

 

[tux]

even though our vet said the same thing in regards to leaving it on all the time, we took the cone off during feeding. we have a really hard time getting tux to eat anyways so we didnt need anything else detering him during meal times.

best of luck hopefully the monster bear is doing well

 

[Sully]

Aw what did Tux have to wear a cone for?!
Ya I'm really thinking we might have to take it off to get him to eat... I just hope he doesn't get too excited having it off then get disappointed when it goes back on right after!!

My monster is doing well other than this eating thing, thanks

 

[tux]

we had tux fixed at 11 months hoping it would stop aggression with one of erics parents dogs, jasper a 17 year old yellow lab ( we lived with them at the time ) and lucky for us it did and then in the summer tux had really bad hotspots and wouldnt leave them alone so the cone of shame made a re apperance. he wasnt happy but he wouldnt let the hotspots heal

 

[tux]

have you seen "up" lol

 

[Sully]

Ya I have seen Up haha I always think of it with Sully walking around with that thing on

 

[Murphy]

Emily, Peter has a special bowl for when they are wearing a cone. pm him.. maybe he can give you some ideas.... :hugs:

 

[charlieinnj]

I wouldn't hesitate to take the cone off for meal time.

 

[Sully]

Emily, Peter has a special bowl for when they are wearing a cone. pm him.. maybe he can give you some ideas.... :hugs:

cool thanks Jen!

 

[mulenag]

He is on any antibiotics or pain meds? That can throw off their appetite.

 

[Sully]

He is on any antibiotics or pain meds? That can throw off their appetite.

He is on ten days of Cephalexin. I didn't think of that..hmmm. He was however on Cephalexin in the Summer for a Staph infection for two weeks and he didn't seem bothered then!

 

[victoria1140]

sometimes the anaesthetic can put them off their food, I would take the cone off for feeding

 

[4ondafloor]

I know how you feel, trust me! After Pae's spay I was almost in tears over her appetite. So much so that I was trying everything!
I'd say take the e-collar off for meals. Even a little break from it here and there under direct supervision might make the world of difference in his outlook.
I'm sorry you're so worried. It's heartbreaking for sure.

 

[Sully]

I'm going to take it off for his dinner tonight and see if it helps! Thanks guys!

 

[Annetteb]

I seem to remember someone recomending something that looked more like an inner tube than a cone that made it easier for feeding and walking around.

There are a couple options shown on this site. http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_8/features/Best-Dog-Cones_20037-1.html

I know when Kona had to wear one she bashed into the walls.. it was sad, so next time I am going to look at one of these other things.

 

[Sully]

Yes I would definitely think about getting a different kind of collar as the traditional cone ones are a total pain in the butt. The only reason why we can't get one of the alternatives is because his eye needs to protected from any bumping or rubbing, only the full cone one prevents anything from even going near his eye!!

 

[4ondafloor]

Bless his heart!! How's he doing? His eye I mean...

 

[Sully]

He is doing well!! His eye looks good, only slightly swollen and red, not too noticeable at all! He gets ointment in it three times a day to fight off infection. Needed since it's awfully hard to stop him from shoving his head, cone and all into all the snow we just got :shocker:

So I took the cone off for his dinner tonight, didn't help Had to do some major coaxing to get him to start to eat, and still he ate less than half. I gave in and mashed in some peanut butter to entice him.. (I know I could easily regret this later but i was desperate to get him to eat!) but still he only took a couple more bites with no more enthusiasm than before and then refused any more. :shrug:

 

[Lori]

It could be the Cephalexin. Chance used to take it for UTI's and then it started to bother him. Maybe you could ask the vet if you could give him a Pepcid (or the generic famotidine) about an hour before he eats. If it's his tummy that's bothering him, it will help settle it.

 

[JackandKelly]

Emily,
Lola can't be on Cephalexin at all anymore. At first it was Ok, the next couple times she refused to eat anything after Day6 and had to be taken off of it for lethargy and not eating.
We tried one last time. After just two doses (one day's worth) she was extremely lethargic and not eating. She was hard to wake up if she was sleeping. She will never ever get another Cephalexin pill.
Antibiotics can really mess with their stomach and appetite